Safety-guard for clothes-wringers



J. D. ROSS.

SAFETY GUARD FOR CLOTHES WRINGERS.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 15. 1920.

1,382,242. Patented June 21, 1921.

anon me t JOHN D. ROSS, OF FLUSHIN'G, NEW YORK.

SAFETY-GUARD FOR CLOTHES-WRINGERS.

Application filed July 15,

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JOHN D. Ross, a citizenofthe United States, residing at Flushing, in the county of Queens andState of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inSafety-Guards for Clothes-WVringers, of which the following is aspecification.

My invention relates to devices to insure the safety of persons usingclothes wringers of the roller type, and particularly when such wringersare power driven.

The danger zone of a roller type wringer is the small space immediatelyin front of the line of contact between the rollers. Relatively, thereis no tendency for a smooth surfaced roller to draw along another smoothsurfaced object, such as the fingers, for instance. The fingers maypress against a roller with impunity as long as they are kept away fromthe danger zone, which latter is dangerous 'simplybecause the clearancebetween the rollers is rapidly becoming less and less, the.closer thepoint of contact between the rollers is approached, and unless there isample clearance any object in that zone is sure to be drawn in betweenthe rollers.

The function of a guard, therefore, is to keep the fingers away from thedanger zone and at the same time permit the clothes to be easily putthrough the wringer, and since power driven wringers are adapted to runin both directions it is necessary to provide a guard on each side.These guards must be movable so that each may be removed when therollers are revolving to wring from the opposite side, or, in otherwords, upon the side toward which the clothes are being fed, therebypermitting a free passage of the clothes away from the rollers.Moreover, because of the possibility ofthe clothes not leaving therollers as they should,- but winding around either roller instead, it isdesirable to have the guard automatically removed under suchcircumstances, as the increasing diameter of roller and clothes wouldeither break the guard or some other part of the wringer, or over-loadthe source of power to a dangerous degree. In all cases the guards arealways in such a position that they will prevent the fingers beingcaught regardless of the direction of rotation of the rollers.

My invention has for 1ts objects the provision of wringer guardmechanism which Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 21, 1921. 1920. Serial No. 396,543.

will fulfil, the requirements above outlined, which is easilymanipulated, which is positive and reliable in use, and which can not bemlsunderstood or used wrongly by even the most careless or ignorantpersons. These and further objects will more fully appear hereinafter.

The invention consists in the novel constructlon and arrangement ofparts of a safety guard for clothes wringers, and in the combined safetyguard and wringer, hereinafter described and claimed, and illustrated inthe accompanying drawing, in which drawings Figure l is a side elevationof a wringer equipped with my invention, the parts being broken away toindicate that they may have any desired length, and the details of theroll mountings and operating mechanism being omitted; Fig. 2 is an endelevation of the same looking from right to left in Fig. 1, parts of theframe being shown in dotted lines to avoid complication of the drawing;

Fig. 3 is a similar view to Fig. 2, showing the parts in a differentoperative position;

Fig. 4 is an end view of the wringer rolls with associated guard membersin the position indicated in Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 4, but with the guard members in thepositions indicated in Fig. 3; and

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary plan view showing one of the latches for theguard frame.

Referring to the drawings, 10 and 11 indicate respectively the upper andlower rolls of a pair of wringer rolls which may be of any desiredlength and size, and which may be mounted in any suitable manner in aframe, parts of which are indicated at 12 and 13. Upright members 14 and15, and cross strips 16 and 17 complete the diagrammatic showing of thewringer structure. The wringer rolls may be journaled in the framestructure and geared together and driven in any suitable manner, suchparts being omitted as they are Well known in the art and it is thoughtunnecessary to complicate the drawing by showing them. The invention isparticularly applicable to power wringers, therefore any suitable powerdrive in connection with the rollers may be employed.

Upon each side of the wringer rolls is arrangeda main guard member,shown at 18 and 19. The main guard member is sup- .tive position at aported at one end by an arm 20 pivotally mounted at 21 .upon a lug 22upon the upright at that end, the main guard member 19 having acorresponding end similarly mounted upon the other side of the frame.

At the opposite end, each main guard member 18 and 19 is mounted upon apivoted frame which is so cross connected as to compel a definiterelationship between the mam guard members. Each guard member 1sarranged to swing outwardly toward and from the wringer rolls, and whenone of the guard members is in the guard position, the other is swungoutwardly, as will be hereinafter more fully explained. The guard memberframe comprises two levers, one being indicated at 23, and pivotallymounted at 24, upon one end of the strip 25 secured to the uprights 14and 15 of the frame. This lever 23 is attached in any suitable way, asby screws 26 and 27, to the end of main guard member 18,. the latterbeing positioned between this lever and pivoted arm 20 so that its upperinward edge 28 when swung toward the wringer rolls will be opposite anda little above the danger zone, which may be considered the meeting orcontact portions of the rolls to which the clothes are to be fed.

The corresponding end of main guard member 19 is mounted upon lever 29which is pivotally mounted at 30 upon cross strip 25, the lower end oflever 29 being secured by screws 31 and 32 to the end of guard member19. It will be observed that lever 29 is bent so that while its upperportion 29' is held in parallelism with lever 23 by cross link 33, thelower portion upon which guard member 19 is mounted projects so as tomaintain guard member 19 in a different position relatively to thewringer rolls to that occupied by guard member 18. This relativeposition of the two main guard members is preferably such that when oneis swung into its operative or guard position, the other will occupy itsextreme inoperadistance from the wringer rolls.

The main guard member frame just described is operated preferably bymeans of a handle 34 secured to any suitable part of the frame, as tolever 23, and said lever may be, and preferably is provided with a latc35 which, as shown, consists of a sheet spring secured to upright 15.'and engaged by the lower end of lever 23, as will be understood by aninspection of Figs. 2 and 6. Lever 29 may be similarly provided with thelatch 36 which is preferably mounted upon upright 14, as shown in Fig.3.

Cooperating with main guard members 18 and 19 are auxiliary guardmembers 37 and 38. Auxiliary guard member 37 is mounted upon a rod 39 towhich it is rigidly secured by end strips 40 and screws 41, but therigid mounting of this guard member upon the rod may be efiected in anyother suitable manner. Rod 39 is journaled in the uprights of the frameand is secured against longitudinal movement by pins 42 and 43. Rod 39is operated from the main guard member swinging frame by means of asegmental rack 44 having its center of movement at pivot 24 of lever 23,and secured to said lever in any suitable manner, as by pin 45.Segmental rack 44 meshes with pinion 46 secured upon the end of the rod39. The relationship between segmental rack 44 and pinion 46 is suchthat when main guard member 18 is swung into its guard position, theauxiliary guard member 37 will be in its raised or inoperative position.

Auxiliary guard member 38, upon the opposite side of the wringer, ismounted upon the rod 39 in a manner similar to the mounting of auxiliaryguard member 37 and is controlled by the movements of lever 29 throughthe action of gear segment 47 secured to lever 29, as by means of pin48,

and having pivot 30 as its center of moveforegoing. Assuming that it isdesired to wring clothes fromleft to right, looking at' Figs. 2 and 4,maln guard member 18 is moved to its guard position by means of handle34 and is there latched, as shown. The clothes will be fed to thewringerrolls oyer the upper and inner edge 28 of said main guard member,and at the same time it will be found impossible to catch the fingers atthe danger zone between the rolls. In this position auxiliary guardmember 37 is in its raised position, and main guard member 19 upon theopposite side is swung outwardly into its inoperative position so as toallow the clothes to pass freely from the wringer rolls upon that side.At the same time auxiliary guard member 38 on that, side occupies itslower or guard position, as shown in Figs. 2 and 4, in which it preventsaccess to the wringer rolls upon that side in proximity to the dangerzone. This is desirable in order to prevent an inexperienced or carelessperson from using the wringer from that side while the main guard memberoccupies its outward or non-guarded position.

As these wringers are intended to wring both ways, when it is desired towring from the opposite side, the operator grasps the handle 34 andswings lever 23 outwardly to the left, the lever being released by thespring latch 35. While assuming this position, as indicated in Figs. 3and 5, the cross link 33 communicates the motion to lever 29 whichswings said lever inwardly to swing main guard member 19 into guardposition where it is latched by spring latch 36. At the same timeauxiliary guard member 37 is brought down into its guard position, andauxiliary guard member 38 is moved upwardly into its inoperativeposition. It will thus be seen that the operator is protected from thatside of the wringer by main guard 19, and from improper use by auxiliaryguard member 37 on the opposite side.

It will be observed that by the swinging mounting of the main guardmembers all practical features of the problem of wringing are taken careof. Not only is the operator fully protected by the main guard member inits guard position, but said member is maintained in that position notonly by the latch, but by the pressure and movement ,of the clothes oversaid main guard member to the wringer rolls. Moreover, by the inwardoblique surface or slope of the main guard member, the parts areprotected from undue strain should the clothes become wound upon eitherof the rolls, in which event the main guard member would automaticallybe swung outwardly to relieve the strain. At th member upon the oppositeside of the wringer will be prevented by the movement of the clothestoward it, from being brought down into an improper position where themovement would be obstructed after leaving the rolls.

While the auxiliary guard members are important as completing theprotection afforded by my machine, it will be seen that the cooperationand utility of the main guard members is not dependent upon the use ofthe auxiliary guard members, which latter may, therefore, be omitted insome instances when found desirable.

While I have described what I now believe to be the best and mosteflicient embodiment of my invention, it will be understood thatnumerous changes in details of construction and relationship of partsmay be made without departing from the invention. For instance, therelationship of the main guard members to each other may be effected bymeans other than the precise system of levers and links disclosed, andtheir degree of movement may be changed by an alteration inproportionate parts. 11 the same manner, changes may be made in thecooperation between the main and auxiliary guard mem bers. All suchchanges I aim to include within the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the UnitedStates, is:

1. The combination with cooperating wringer rolls, of a guard memberconsisting of a bar formed and positioned to obstruct e same time themain guard access to the danger zone or space immediately in front ofthe line of contact between the rolls but havin an upper guard edge andsurface in proximity to the upper roll, said guard member being mountedto swing bodily outwardly from or inwardly toward the rolls to bringsaid guard member out of or into guard position.

2. The combination with a pair of wringer rolls, of a guard memberextending along said rolls upon one side thereof at the danger zone withan upper guard edge and surface above said danger zone, a second guardmember extending along said rolls upon the other side thereof andsimilarly positioned, and common means for swinging either one of saidguard members bodily outwardly from and the other inwardly toward saidrolls, to bring either guard member out of and the other into guardposition.

3. The combination with upper and lower cooperating wringer rolls and asupporting frame therefor, extending along said rolls obstructing accessto the danger zone but having an upper guard edge and surface above thedanger zone upon one side thereof, a second guard member extending alongsaid rolls upon the other side thereof, said guard members beof a safetyguard member mg mounted upon said frame and connected for swingingmovement of one bodily outwardly from and the other inwardly toward saidrolls to bring either guard member out of and the other into guardposition but yieldable under pressure of material wound upon eitherroll.

4:. The combination with a pair of wringer rolls and a supporting frametherefor, of a safety guard member extending along said rolls upon oneside thereof, a second guard member extending along said rolls upon theother side thereof, said guard members being pivotally supported by saidframe to swing in an are from a fixed pivot point bodily away from ortoward said rolls, and connectin-g'means for adjacent ends of said guardmembers to cause either guard member to swing out of guard position whenthe other guard member is swung into guard position.

5. The combination with a pair of wringer rolls and a supporting frametherefor, of a safety guard member extending along said rolls andpivotally mounted upon. said frame to swing bodily outwardly 'from orinwardly toward said rolls out of or into guard position, and a latchupon said supporting frame arranged to hold said guard member in guardposition but releasable by pressure by clothes wound upon either ofsaidv rolls.

6. The combination with a pair of wringer rolls and a supporting frametherefor, of a safety guard member extending along said rolls upon oneside thereof, a second guard posing the approach to the upper roll aboveing pivotally member extendin along said rolls upon the other sidethereo said guard members bemounted upon said frame to swing in an arcbodily away from or toward said rolls, and a parallel motion linkpivotally connecting corresponding ends of said guard members to causeeither guard memher to swinglin an are out of guard position when the oter guard member is swung into guard position.

7. The combination with a pail of wringer rolls and a supporting frametherefor, of a main safety guard member extending along said rollsopposite the danger zone and mounted upon said frame for swingingmovement bodily outwardly from or inwardly toward said rolls, anauxiliary guard member mounted on the same side of said rolls above saidmain guard member, and a connection between said members whereby saidauxiliary guard member is moved out of guard position when said mainguard member is moved into guard position.

8. The combination with a pair of wringer rolls and a supporting frametherefor, of a main safety guard member extending along said rollsopposite the danger zone and mounted upon said frame for swingingmovement bodily outwardly from or- -inwardly toward said rolls, anauxiliary guard member pivotally mounted above sa1d main guard member tomove from a position exsaid main guard member to a position closing saidapproach, and a connection between said members whereby said auxiliaryguard member is moved to close said approachwhen said main guard memberis moved out of guard position.

9. The combination with a pair 'of wringer rolls and a supporting frametherefor, of a main safety guard member upon each side of said rollsopposite the danger zone and mounted upon said frame for swingingmovement bodily "outwardly from or inwardly toward said rolls, anauxiliary guard member mounted above each main guard member to move froma position exposing the approach to the upper roll above its main guardmember to a position closing said approach, and connections between saidguard members for causing the auxiliary guard member on either side toexpose the approach to the upper roll on that side when the main guardmember of that side is moved into guard position, and for causing themain guard member on the other side to move out of guard position, andthe auxiliary guard member on that side to close the approach to theupper roll on that side.

10. The combination with a pair of wringer rolls and a supporting frametherefor, of a main safety guard member extending along said rolls uponone side thereof, a second main guard member extendin along said rollsupon the other side thereo said guard members being pivotally mountedupon said frame to swing bodily away from or'toward said rolls,connecting means for adjacentends of said main guard members to causeeither guard member to swing out of guard position when the other mainguard member is swung into guard position, an auxiliary guard membermounted above said main guard member and geared to the same in suchrelationship that when said auxiliary guard member is moved out of guardposition its main guard member is moved into guard position, and whensaid auxiliary guard member is moved into guard position its main guardmember is moved out of guard osition.

11. he combination with upper and lower cooperating wringer rolls and asupporting frame therefor, of a main safety guard member upon each sideof said rolls opposite the danger zone and mounted upon said frame, anauxiliary guard member mounted above each main guard member to move froma position exposing the approach to the upper roll above its main guardmember to a guard position closing said approach, and a connectionbetween said guard members for causing the auxiliary guard member on oneside to assume its guard position when the main guard member upon theother side of the rolls is moved to guard position.

12. The combination with cooperating wringer rolls, of a guard membercomprising a bar formed to obstruct access to the danger zone and havingan upper guard edge and surface just above said danger zone, said guardmember being mounted for movement into and out of guard position.

13. The combination with a pair of wringer rolls and a supporting frametherefor, of a guard member mounted upon said frame to swing toward andfrom said rolls and comprising a non-rotatable bar formed and positionedto obstruct access to the danger zone but having an upper guard edge andsurface just above said danger zone and over which the clothes pass,said bar also having an inner surface sloping obliquely downwardly andoutwardly from said guard edge and surface.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

JOHN D. ROSS.

